The Prince Inside the Toad
by coffeebuddha
Summary: Sweet little ficlet from the POV of a secret admirer of Todd's on the day that he and the other mutants are allowed to return to school after the world finds out about their powers. Complete


The Prince Inside the Toad  
  
Summary: Sweet little ficlet from the POV of a secret admirer of Todd's on the day that he and the other mutants are allowed to return to school after the world finds out about their powers.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. The girl whose POV this is written in does belong to me; although, taking into consideration the fact that I don't even give her a name, it's hardly likely that anyone will want to steal her.  
  
Kristin: I was searching through the various romance stories for X-men: Evolution and noticed in passing that I didn't see any romances with Todd. I brushed it off at the time, but the thought of poor lonely Toad just won't leave me alone. Unfortunately I still had no idea how to write a romance for Toad or any of the other characters in the series for that matter. (Although I'm a long time fan of X-Men I have just recently begun to watch the Evolution series. Most of what I know concerning these versions of the characters come from fanfics.) Then it dawned on me like a little light bulb suddenly being switched on above my head. Write a story not about Todd, but of someone observing him. Not sure how well it will turn out, but my muse won't leave me alone about the idea.  
  
***  
  
When I saw his face on the television that night all that I could see was the intensity in his eyes and all I could hear was the suddenly unbearably loud sound of my heart beating. The first thought to enter my mind was that the unusual costume he was wearing didn't do his looks any favors. It wasn't until my mother walked into the room, saw the television and screamed that I even noticed the powers that he and the others were using. My attention was completely devoted to the screen as I impatiently waited for the reporters to turn the camera back to him. Finally they did, just as his tongue shot out. I clasped a hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp and then, I'm ashamed to say, fainted.  
  
When the mutants didn't show up for school for those first few days I began to get worried. The terrible things that the other students said about them and about what should be done to them didn't help to ease the upsetting thoughts. What if they had caught him and right now he was laying cut open in a laboratory, ready to be dissected? My discomfort only doubled when the mutants that lived at the institute showed up for classes. What had happened that they were here when the others weren't? Where had all of the mutants that lived in that boarding house gone? I tried to push through the crowd that had gathered in a wide oval around them, but the larger teenagers didn't even notice me. When the hostile ring finally dispersed, the mutants had already entered the building.  
  
My worry was beginning to override my rationality at this point and I blindly shoved people out of my way as I attempted to find one, just one, of Xavier's students to answer my question and put my fears to rest. I finally spotted Scott Summers and had nearly reached him when I brushed up against Duncan. When he felt my hand brush against the back of his arm he turned sharply, hitting me with his book bag and knocking me to the ground. My glasses slipped off of my face and my books and papers were scattered on the floor around me. The already annoyed look on his face darkened and he had just opened his mouth to deliver what would have been a scathing, yet assuredly witless, remark when the doors that led out of the school burst open. Duncan's attention was momentarily diverted and, seeing an opportunity to escape, I quickly shoved my glasses onto my face, gathered my textbooks, and fled from the muscle-bound, thickheaded jock.  
  
It wasn't until I was nearly halfway down the hall that I heard Lance's voice interrogating someone. Immediately I turned around and was confronted with the sight of Lance holding onto another student's collar and glaring at him. My anxiety overwhelmed my curiosity after a moment and I scanned the crowd that had gathered around the mutant and the human that had dared to glance at him. When I finally saw Todd my eyes filled with tears of relief. He was all right. For the moment I didn't care if he was a mutant or not. He was all right and that was the only thing that mattered. After studying him for a second to be positive he was truly not hurt, my gaze settled on his mouth. Only now, content with the knowledge that he hadn't been harmed in any lasting way during the fight, did I take the time to remember what I had seen him do on the television. I chewed on my lower lip as I absently wondered what it would be like to kiss someone with a tongue like his. A dark blush spread across my face as I realized what I had been thinking. It would most likely never happen, but still.  
  
I was brought out of my musings when a figure stepped in front of me. I looked up and my eyes locked with Todd's. How had he moved without my noticing it?! I was so busy trying to keep my legs from giving out beneath me that it took me all of ten seconds before I realized that he was glaring at me.  
  
"What do you think you're staring at? Something wrong with my face?" His voice was filled with so much contempt that I involuntarily took a step back, silently cursing as my blush darkened even more. Still his gaze held me captive. The first thing that I had ever noticed about Todd was his eyes. They were filled with so much emotion. If a person found a way to interpret those emotions, then they would be able to read him like an open book. Quietly studying him almost every day for the past few months had paid off enough that I could almost always look into his eyes and instantly have at least a vague idea of what he was feeling. At the moment his eyes were filled with a barely contained rage that I trembled slightly with fear, but almost hidden behind the anger was a sharp pain, which nearly broke my heart. I licked my lips and opened my mouth, but the only noise that came out was a small squeak. I cleared my throat and tried again.  
  
"N-no," I stuttered, "The-there's nothing wr-wrong with you-your face." Despite the glare that he still had fixed on me, it was all I could do to keep from throwing my arms around his neck and begging him not to give up on people yet. His intense eyes studied me for a long moment, during which I held onto my books as tightly as I could to keep from giving into my inappropriate urge. All too soon, or perhaps not soon enough, he turned and walked away with his friends. Watching him go, my knees did give out and I found myself on the floor for the second time that day. My cheeks felt wet and when I lifted a hand to touch my face, it came away moist with tears. In the background I could hear a few girls, who had probably never even noticed me before today, trying to comfort me. One had even knelt down beside me and placed an arm around my shoulders. They were calling him a monster in an attempt to make me feel better.  
  
'But he isn't a monster to me,' I wanted to scream at them. 'He's only a monster to you because you refuse see the good inside of him!' Instead I merely muttered my thanks to them and wandered aimlessly to my first period classroom. I collapsed into my desk and buried my face in my arms as the shear hopelessness of the situation finally hit me. We would never work out as a couple if he couldn't learn to trust me, and somehow I doubted that that would ever happen. His anger toward humanity seemed so great, as did his pain from being emotionally hurt by it.  
  
I heaved a huge sigh and blinked away the remainder of the tears. With quick, practiced motions I cleaned the spots that my tears had left on my glasses. I snuck a peek out of the corner of my eye and my lips twisted into a sad smile. Todd was sitting in his usual seat beside me. I would never have him, and perhaps he would never even know how I truly felt about him, but as long as I was able to watch him, I would be able to survive. His head turned in my direction and out of fear that he would notice me watching him again I looked back down at my desk. Sitting there I almost laughed out loud. I had already found my Prince Charming, but it was just my luck that he turned out to be the frog prince.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: Yes, she did call him a frog, but give her a break. She didn't know that his name was Toad. *glances at what she wrote* That turned out.different from what I was thinking of when I started it. Don't really like the ending. If I think of a better one then I'll change it. Any comments? Should I be banned from ever writing again? Is she too Mary Sueish? I have a huge fear of any original character that I write turning into a Mary Sue. Give me feedback! Please? Is it just me or does it seem like there should be more after the ending? Just wondering.perhaps another chapter or two.or perhaps I should just leave it as a one-shot like I intended for it to be. I really did enjoy writing this. It was one of those stories where I felt like it was more of the characters writing it than me. Perhaps I'm channeling a spirit who has a thing for Todd? 


End file.
